Did You Know Kodak Had Its Own Nuclear Reactor?

For more than 30 years, Kodak Park was home to a a small nuclear research reactor, one of the few of its kind in the world.

Starting decades ago, Kodak had an interest in neutrons, subatomic particles that can be used to determine the makeup of a given material or to create an image of it without damaging it. In 1974 it acquired a californium neutron flux multiplier, known as a CFX. Small plates of highly enriched uranium multiplied the neutron flow from a tiny californium core.

The device was not much larger than a refrigerator and, in the one available photo, looked vaguely like Robby the Robot from a 1950s science fiction movie. To house it, Kodak dug a cavity below the basement level of Building 82, part of the company’s research complex along Lake Avenue.

Eastman Kodak Co.'s californium
neutron flux multiplier, known as a
CFX. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

It wasn’t a power plant, and carried no risk of explosion. Nothing ever leaked. Still, the reactor was locked down, remotely surveilled and tightly regulated — mainly because it contained 3½ pounds of highly enriched uranium.

That’s the material that nuclear bombs are made of.  When Kodak decided six years ago to close down the device, federal regulators made them submit detailed plans for removing the substance. The highly enriched uranium was packaged into protective containers and spirited away in November 2007, armed guards were surely on hand.

All of this was done pretty much without anyone in the Rochester community having a clue. The existence of the device was not, strictly speaking, a secret. It had been mentioned many years ago in research papers, and was referred to obliquely in a half-dozen public documents on a federal website, though none hinted where it was located.

“I’ve never heard of it at Kodak,” said Miles Pomper, senior research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington. “It’s such an odd situation because private companies just don’t have this material.”

Documents made public on the NRC website after the Kodak shipment took place indicate it went to a federal facility in South Carolina. “The federal authorities oversaw the process and we deferred to them on all matters related to it,” Veronda said. “Clearly the decision was that it was best not to publicize it.”